True to the original theme of this blog, the following entry relates to an encounter with wildlife, in this case penguins on the beaches of Punta del Diablo. Even in this remarkably beautiful coastline, we were starkly reminded of the devastation caused by mankind on the environment worlwide. Daily, guests from the hostel see exhausted penguins, some still alive and some dead, washed up on the beaches. We stayed with one for over two hours today. We were able to approach extremely closely, but with no aggressive response from it, as would be expected by any wild animal. Rightly or wrongly, I picked it up to encourage it back into the water, and found what might be the cause of the penguin losses, a distinct greasy residue, smelling of petroleum. A very sad part of the day.
